MENTORSHIP

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A mentorship typically involves pairing a student (mentee or protégé) with a community professional (mentor) in a one-to-one relationship with the intent of providing first-hand experience in a career field/cluster of the student's choice. Mentors are encouraged to provide as much hands-on experience as possible and to give learners a view of all aspects of the career, including routine tasks, as well as creative and challenging opportunities. The mentorship differs primarily from an internship experience in that it is a one-to-one relationship and does not require a minimum number of hours.

The mentorship may be paid or unpaid. School credit CANNOT be earned for mentorships (State Board Policy, CTED-003, June 2000). It may be possible to turn the mentorship into an internship in order to receive course credit.

RATIONALE FOR MENTORSHIP

A mentorship is a deliberate pairing of a more-skilled or experienced person with a lesser-skilled or inexperienced learner with the agreed upon goal of having the lesser-skilled learner (mentee) grow and develop specific occupational competencies. The individualized approach to teaching and learning affords a self-motivated learner opportunity to excel and to become proficient in many skills. The mentor, guided by the learner's teacher coordinator, follows an agreed upon training plan.

STEPS FOR PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

Create and/or administer criteria for selection of students (mentees).

DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES

Employer Evaluation
The suggested resources enable an employer to evaluate a student's job performance as well as general work habits and personal traits. Instructors should meet with each employer during each grading period and have them complete the evaluation. In addition, the instructor should review the evaluation with the student and discuss ways of improving job performance.

Work-Based Learning: Participating Company Evaluation Form - shared from McHenry County, South Carolina.
(doc, 38kb)

Orientation in the Workplace
Students need to be oriented to their workplace. An orientation helps students understand the difference between school and the workplace, and it helps them make a good first impression.

Sample interview form for students to use to interview an employer (doc, 30kb)

Program Improvement
These surveys are a way to learn about how your work-place learning program is functioning. Instructors should give the survey to students and businesses that have participated in the program and use the results to help improve the program

Training Plans
Training plans provide a list of competencies that a student is expected to demonstrate (learn) while in the workplace. Connecting activities [link to Connecting Activities] may be used to create a training plan. Coordinators should follow the process outlined below when creating training plans for students: